SPOKANE (AP) - The Forest Service is hiring thousands of full-time firefighters this year but has bypassed some of its most experienced veterans because pension rules deny such permanent jobs to anyone over 35.

Some of those veterans worked the fire lines for more than a decade as temporary employees, without pension or benefits.

And some of them question whether inexperience contributed to the deaths of four firefighters in Washington last week and say reliance on rookie crews could result in more deaths.

"People are going to die this summer," said Kathy Hudak, 41, of Missoula, Mont., who was denied a full-time job despite two decades of experience fighting forest fires.

"When you've been on the line, and you've got years of experience, you kind of develop a sixth sense of what is going on around you, and you know if you shouldn't be there."

The Forest Service denies inexperience was a factor in last week's deaths of Tom Craven, 30, Devin Weaver, 21, Jessica Johnson, 19, and Karen FitzPatrick, 18.

It also denies it is having trouble finding experienced workers to fill the thousands of firefighting jobs funded by Congress after the disastrous 2000 fire season.

"We're not short of experience," said Harry Croft, the agency's assistant national fire plan coordinator. "We have adequate supervisors for the people we have. We don't put anybody out there unless they are trained."

In the 1970s, federal firefighters and law enforcement officers petitioned Congress to lower their retirement age because of the physical demands of the jobs.

Such workers now can retire with full pensions after 20 years of experience, with mandatory retirement at 55.

But that also means that firefighters hired after age 35 would not be able to put in the 20 years needed to get a pension.

The Forest Service felt it would be unjust to employ firefighters for years and then deny them a pension.

So it instituted a rule that says those over 35 are not eligible for new permanent firefighting jobs, even if they have been temporary hires for years.

Union activists say the rule hurt about 500 experienced firefighters across the country.

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